'nonpalindromic' originates from English, specifically formed from the elements 'non-' and 'palindromic', where 'non-' meant 'not' and 'palindromic' is ultimately from Greek 'palindromos' (palin 'again' + dromos 'running').

'palindrome' comes from Greek 'palindromos', passed into Late Latin and then Middle English as 'palindrome'; the adjective 'palindromic' developed in modern English, and the negative prefix 'non-' was later attached to form 'nonpalindromic'.

Initially related to the Greek idea of 'running back again' (words or sequences that read the same backward and forward); over time it became the modern term for items that read the same both ways, and 'nonpalindromic' denotes the opposite: 'not reading the same backward and forward'.